Re: tlug: IPA (evolving from the topic: Japanese input)

[Karl-Max Wagner <karlmax@example.com>]

>   IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)
> 
> It seems a little cryptic at first, but once you get used to it, boy
> is it sweet. For those that don't know about it, IPA is basically a
> linguistically reasonable (and relatively neutral) way to represent the
> sounds of human languages.
Practically all Europeans know it. It is regularly used in
schools for language teaching and has proven invaluable.
> Now take this idea to its logical conclusion: have *everybody* use
> it. Not just people in Japan and China, but people in Paris, Moscow,
> LA, Tehran, Dehli and Moab.
I think the latter on your list ( from Paris onward ) is already
more or less the case.
> We don't just get rid of kana and kanji, but in one fell swoop we can
> free ourselves from the messiness of hangul, cyrillic, devanagari,
> and all those other odd scripts that I can't even spell. (Ah, but with 
> IPA, I could spell anything!) Even people in Western Europe would have 
> a lot to gain.
Exactly.
> There would be no end to the benefits English speakers would enjoy by
> having their illogical spelling system cleaned up once and for
Oh boy, how true.....
> all. Oh, and think about the silly French with all those letters they
> waste when they don't even pronounce half the letters. This would go a
Yes. French is even worse.....
> long way toward saving the rain forests, I imagine.
> would make the sacrifice. Oh, and speech-to-text and text-to-speech
> systems would be a sinch. Gee, I've already come up 5 new products to
> develop for next year, just writing this paragraph. 
Ah ! Finally somebody who understands that cleaning up writing
systems could be an enabler to new technical products. What I
tried to convey: sticking to the conventional and not daring
some radical steps might gonna be a mega bummer economy and
technology wise on the long run.
> We could conduct studies to see which sounds are the most common
> universally and to specific languages, and create virtual keyboards
> according to statistical analysis that would make most efficient use
> of the faster fingers. We would probably need new "hard" keyboards
> too, to make use of all the beauties of the IPA system. In the US, a
Churning out new keyboards is a snap.
> portion of the profits experienced by keyboard manufacturers
> pumping out the new keyboards could be funnelled into social programs
> that would help train people to use the IPA.
Probably you would even find that the per capita expenses
towards literacy can be cut down that way so buys you a higher
literacy rate with the same budget. How's that for social
progress ?  
> In Japan, a whole new industry would spring up with IPA jukus and
> private schools to teach everyone how to use the new system. Taxes on
> these businesses could be funnelled into projects that would be used to
> convert the books from the Primitive Pre IPA Era. Wow, this would go
> far towards solving unemployment and economic recession, too!
On the long run the above effect would take place. Same literacy
with vastly reduced expenses. Also, much lower cost in pretty
much anything where a man/machine interface is required, plus
the possibility to develop new products. There is no doubt that
this would do a lot of good to the country.
> And in the US, we could stamp out regional prejudice by chosing a certain
> dialect and basing American English on that. I would strongly suggest
> Texan English, because Texans tend to have a relaxed attitude, and use
Ha, good idea.....I LOVE Texan !
> These are just some thoughts, but hey, who knows, efficiency is not
> always so bad.
Efficiency is important ! It helps you do a certain amount of
work in less time with less effort and thus buys you more spare
time, and that is VERY GOOD !

                             Karl-Max Wagner
                             karlmax@example.com
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